From Child Star to Award-Winning Actress

Judy Ann got her first taste of television drama in the hands of veteran character actress Bella Flores. And then she wanted to quit.

Imagine the irony: Judai was eight years old, doing her very first on-cam acting scene, where she played a street urchin tormented by Flores' character. She still remembers that night: "First scene ko, kay Bella Flores. Sinabunutan niya ako at sinampal-sampal kasi 'yun ang eksena. Sinampal-sampal niya ako, sinabunutan niya ako. Nanginginig ako talaga! Tumakbo ako sa cabinet at nagtago. Ayoko na sa sobrang takot."

Eventually, she got over the trauma. Slapping scenes were all in a day's work. She had the chance to work with Bella Flores again as an adult actress. "Ngayon, natatawa na lang ako. Hindi ko naman dinala sa pagtanda ko yung takot ko sa kanya. Natatawa ako at sinasabi ko, 'Ikaw, ang laki-laki ng parte mo sa kabataan ko!'"

Judy Ann built on these small successes. She took it step by step. She started with small parts and worked her way up. The hardships and humiliation she had to go through from Ula to Mara Clara, they were all investments in a career that would pay off much later in life. It was only then that she would discover acting was her passion. The little girl who got dragged to an audition had been transformed. "Napagdaanan ko lahat, from being an extra to this, tinahi ko siya lahat. For the longest time, acting has been my life. Whatever I do, I do it for myself. I satisfy my passion."

To make it work, she had to start by adjusting her attitude, learning to put up with the long hours and hard work. During the early days, while shooting a movie or taping a TV show, she would sometimes feel that what she'd done was enough and say she wanted to go home. That had to stop. "May mga ganon ako kunwari, hindi ko feel masyado, or gusto ko lang maitawid. Then mare-realize ko na mali 'yon. Bad attitude. Kasi may mga ganoon din naman ang artista na 'Ayoko na, pack up na tayo.' Pero hindi puwede 'yon--kailangan mo talagang araruhin."

After fifteen years in the business, Judai hungered to reinvent her image and grow as a real actress. Throughout most of her career, she played the typical young star roles until she landed the lead part in Sabel in 2004.

Her character in the film was "a big leap". Judai portrayed a liberated woman who had a lesbian affair, and it was in Sabel, scripted by Ricky Lee and directed by Joel Lamangan, that she had her first-ever rape scene. Judy Ann was motivated to break down her own boundaries. but the motivation was coming from a personal pain. "Suntok sa buwan 'yung ginawa ko. Pero it was a decision I had to make because gusto ko nang mag-mature 'yung mga roles na ginagampanan ko. I wanted to prove to people na kaya ko. Kahit malaki ako, hindi naman nakukuha ang kaseksihan sa pagkapayat lang. Puwede mong iarte. At kaya kong gumawa ng isang pelikulang hindi n'yo iisiping gagawin ko."

The role gave Judy Ann her first best actress trophy in the prestigious Gawad Urian and also in the Golden Screen Awards of the Entertainment Press Society (ENPRESS).

Filming Ploning was another leap. This time, she was not just the lead actress, she was also the producer. She put a lot of pressure on herself. It was hard for Judy Ann, because the movie was shot in a remote location. She had to be away from family and friends, and could not go home and put her feet up at the end of a long day on the set. So she learned to adjust in other ways. During the filming, she and Ploning director Dante Nico "Ga" Garcia -- with whom she'd been friends since she was 14 years old -- signed a contract stating that if Judy Ann felt she couldn't go on, they would pack up the shooting by mutual agreement. "Hindi naman dahil naghihitad lang ako, kundi dahil pagod na ako," she says. "May isang eksena dun, yung esposada na nagsasayawkami na ang haba. Monologue yung linya ko nun, eh ang dami na naming pinanggalingan, tapos nung gabi ko na lang nalaman yung eksena na 'yun ang gagawin. Nakaset-up na, tapos sinabi ko sa kanya (Ga), kinausap ko siya, hindi ko magagawa ito. Magagawa ko, pero hindi ako magiging happy. Kaya pinak-up na niya."

It was the one and only time that filming was packed up the whole time they were shooting Ploning. Judy Ann felt a sense of responsibility. "Nasi-stress ako, tapos nape-pressure ako na ang daming negatibong kakainin, tapos lahat ng tao, ume-effort sa eksena, pero ako, hindi ako maka-effort dahil hindi ko maramdaman yung ginagawa ko. Nakakahiya sa mga tao."

After many years in a business full of hardships and challenges, Judai is at a point in her life now where she has learned to manage stress. "Guiding principle ko lang ngayon sa buhay is to have fun and be happy," she discloses. "Ayoko na ng stress sa buhay ko."

Establishing an amicable working relationship with people in front of, or behind the camera, makes her work stress-free. "I value the people I work with. As much as possible, I'd like to have a good working relationship with them. Hindi ko sila pina-plastic," the actress explains.

But the symbiotic relationship she has established with them is something she worked hard for. "Siguro I earned the respect of these people. It's a give-and-take relationship. 'Bigay ko 'yung kailangan nila, pero kailangan ko rin ng ilang araw na pahinga." It is on these days, Judai says, that she tries her hand at other things she wants to do.

She admits getting stressed by people who are quick to judge her. "Na-si-stress ako kapag nakakarinig ako ng nagsasabi ng 'Ang suplada pala niya,'" she shares. "After a hard day's work, and I hear that, I feel bad, at gusto kong sabihin, 'hindi n'yo alam ang pinagdaanan ko buong araw.'"

But she tries to address this by reaching out some more. "Isa sa mga rason kung bakit gusto kong nakikipag-usap, at gusto kong lumalapit sa tao ay dahil mahiyain ako. I try to open myself up to people na parang pare-pareho lang tayo, nagkataon lang na iba-iba tayo ng trabaho."

Taken from Starstudio magazine: Judy Ann Santos special issue

'Weighty' Issues

Judy Ann never got the chance to meet her idol Julie Vega, but she almost felt like she did because some of the people Vega worked with on Anna Liza, like Renato del Prado and Juan Rodrigo, she worked with in Mara Clara. These people became her surrogate parents. One of the things they advised her to do was lose weight -- systematically and under medical supervision, since there had been insinuations that Vega's death was related to crash dieting. "Since tatay-tatayan ko naman ang marami sa kanila noon, ang palaging inaano nila sa akin is magpapayat. Kaya feeling ko noon, nararamdaman ko yung sinasabi kay Julie Vega."

And yet, Judy Ann didn't give in to the pressure. She honestly didn't think she was fat. When she was younger, she didn't go on any diets. She refused to, thinking there was no reason to deprive herself of the pleasures of food because she was still young. That was something she could worry about later, when she entered her teens. So she went on her merry way, eating what she pleased and rationalizing that by telling herself she would only be young once, and that there would be plenty of time to worry about her weight later. That time, like most young people, she was determined to live in the moment. "Mahal ko ang pagkain; puwede akong magpakasal sa pagkain. So naisip ko, bakit ko ide-deprive ang kabataan ko, eh hindi na ako makakabalik sa youth, di ba? So sabi ko, I might as well enjoy kung ano yung nandyan and then saka ko na lang aasikasuhin [ang pag-diet] kapag medyo dalaga na ako."

She grew bigger and bigger. But she still wasn't alarmed, not even when she hit her teens, and entertainment reporters started calling her names like "siopao", "mamon" and "aparador" in their columns. Still, the reaction wasn't instantaneous. These comments didn't really make her feel fat, nor did they make her feel insecure about herself or her weight. "Never ako naging insecure na mataba ako. Nung mataba ako, hindi ko naman naisip na mataba ako. Feeling ko pa rin naman sexy ako. Kahit mataba ako, feeling ko payat ako, mas payat lang kayo sa akin."

Judy Ann was as good as her word. She promised that one day, when she was older, she would lose the weight, and she did. It was the 2001 film Bakit Di Totohanin, where she played the role of a boxer, that got her started--not on dieting, but on the pleasures of working out. She learned how to do kickboxing and Muay Thai. She would get up in the morning, go to the gym and work ouot. Even after the movie ended, she kept on working out. "Na-enjoy ko lang din yung pag-wo-work out noon, kaya ako pumayat," she says.

She knew she had met her goal when soon a slimming capsule signed her up to be its celebrity endorser. Now, looking back, she has acquired enough confidence to laugh at herself. "Pagkalipas ng maraming taon, natatawa na lang ako. Kapag napapanood ko ang mga pelikula ko noon, nakakatawa naman talaga ang itsura ko," she quips. "Kahit ako, sinasabi ko, paano ako naging artista? Pero it was a phase of my life that I never regretted."

Taken from Starstudio magazine: Judy Ann Santos special issue

The Making of a Drama Princess

More than 20 years ago, Judy Ann Santos's acting career got off to a rolling start and it went downhill before it went anywhere -- literally.

The eight-year-old girl wanted nothing more but to be like her idol Julie Vega, the child actress who made people cry in the film Mga Mata Ni Angelita. Why not? After all, she had Julie's round face, soulful black eyes, and the ability to cry on command. And, when she saw how, in a heart-wrenching scene where Vega, who played the blind girl Angelita, had to fall, trip, and roll pell-mell downhill, Judai proved she could do the same. In her home in Antipolo, she looked for a suitable hill and, for hours, did her own Angelita. "Kahit mag-isa ako noon, nakaka-acting ako. Ginugulong ko ang sarili ko sa bundok, kunwari bulag [din] ako."

It was her fondest dream to meet Julie Vega in the flesh, a dream that would be cut short by Vega's tragic death in May 1985 at the age of 16. She had followed Vega closely not because she aspired to be a star but simply because she felt she could do what Vega did onscreen -- and possibly get paid enough to pay her way to school. But nobody really believed Judai's play-acting and daydreaming would ever amount to anything.

It was by pure chance that she landed a role in Kaming Mga Ulila. Nobody planned for her to go and audition; she merely got dragged into it. "yung boarder namin, si Tita Linda, nabasa niya sa diyaryo yung auditions ng Regal. May dinala siya doon na kapitbahay namin. Sumama lang ako sa kanya kasi ihahatid niya ako sa bahay ng Tita ko dahil doon ako magbabakasyon. Tapos nakita lang ako ni Elwood Perez at ni Mother Lily. Tinanong nila si Tita Linda kung puwede na rin akong isama sa audition."

Since they were there, just inches away from landing her first role on TV, Tita Linda felt pressured to motivate the young Judy Ann and make her cry for the talent casters. She resorted to desperate measures. "Yung time na 'yun, yung mga binubulong-bulong sa akin ni Tita Linda, para maiyak ako, yung talagang kinabubuwisitan kong tao, kaya yung iyak ko, totoong-totoo!" Sure enough, she got the role.

Judy Ann is one actress who distinguished herself by her ability to cry on command. From television to the movies, her crying scenes are well-remembered.

It would be Ula, Ang Batang Gubat that would catapult her to fame. But she wasn't thinking that far ahead yet: at the time, Judy Ann had her eye on another prize -- the coveted title role in Ana Luna, a role that had a number of similarities with the one that made Julie Vega famous. It was also about an api-apihan little girl, just like Vega's Anna Liza. Judy Ann auditioned for the part, and was expecting to land it after receiving a tip that the role was already hers and that it was simply a matter of waiting. So she waited. But when days, then weeks, went by with no call, she started to worry. When news finally came out that another young actress had landed the role, Judy Ann was inconsolable. She learned of the news from a TV news broadcast. "Noon, yung TV pa namin, yung babatukan mo para maliwanag, tapos hahawakan mo yung antenna para makakuha ng signal bilang nasa Antipolo ka. Doon ko nalaman na may Ana Luna na, si Margarita Fuentes. Na-depress ako, nalungkot ako, umiyak ako."

Directors Emil Cruz and Argel Joseph, with whom she had worked in Kaming Mga Ulila, came to her rescue by promising to create a new show just for her. "Magiging batang gubat ka," they told her.

Ula, Ang Batang Gubat, which premiered on the old IBC-13 in 1988, was her first title role. Barely 10 years old when she was cast, she threw herself immediately into the role of the young female Tarzan. She asked that swinging vines be put up in their backyard, and would practice going back and forth, from one to the other, for hours each day. She supplemented that with a diet of infant cereal, believing it would make her stronger. "Nagpa-praktis ako sa dalawang baging na 'yon. Palipat-lipat ako," she laughs. "Tapos, since wala kaming pera, ang kinakain ko, Cerelac kasi ang paniwala ko n'ung bata ako, ang Cerelac, nakakatibay ng tuhod."

Judai not only found work but found a new family on the set of Ula. Because she longed for her parents (her mom had to work in Canada after her father left them), the cameramen and directors became instant father figures to her. Sometimes, during set breaks, she'd fall asleep on the lap of a cameraman. "Kaya noon, I'm always looking forward to taping dahil na-ba-baby ako."

At 14, she starred in an afternoon soap called Mara Clara. Though the show aired on ABS-CBN, it was produced by a blocktimer. In the broadcast lingo of that day, that meant being a second-class citizen; the prime spots, the biggest dressing rooms, the stellar billing, these were all reserved for the stars of network-produced shows. These included Claudine Baretto and her contemporaries on Ang TV. Judy Ann and co-star Gladys Reyes did not receive the royal treatment.

One incident made it very clear to Judy Ann exactly where she stood. It started in the morning, when she and Gladys were summoned to the studio for an early-morning call time at 8AM. ABS-CBN then had only two dressing rooms in the old building. When she and Gladys got back to their dressing room after taping, they found their things in the corridor outside, "kasi nandoon na yung mga taga-Ang TV na babae. Eh sikat na sikat yung Ang TV. Nung pumasok kami ni Gladys para mag-CR, biglang tumahimik, hanggang sa paglabas namin. Nung paglabas namin ng pintuan, biglang nagtawanan, so siyempre, ang feeling namin, kami yung pinagtatawanan."

But the worst was yet to come. When ABS-CBN threw a big party to celebrate Christmas and its 40th anniversary, the guests were asked to come in red. Judy Ann didn't have anything she considered suitable, neither did she have the money to have spend for one, so she asked her brother Jeffrey to accompany her to the Greenhills tiangge. She saw some cute cocktail dresses, but all of them were priced out of her reach. Finally, she saw a pair of velvety blue-violet leggings and a red-and-blue polo. She could afford it and still have money left over to buy a pair of high-heeled sandals. When she got to the Coconut Palace, she was refused entry by one of the talent coordinators because she wasn't appropriately dressed. "Sabi ko, may pula naman ako ah, 'yan, di ba pula 'yan? Tapos tinanong ako kung ano daw ba ang show ko sa ABS, sabi ko, Mara Clara po. Tinanong din kung invited daw ako, sabi ko, opo, may nag-page po sa akin."

ABS-CBN parties then were grand affairs with even grander raffle prizes. That evening, the raffle was being presided over by John Estrada and Randy Santiago. Judy Ann still remembers her ticket raffle number: 409 The prize at stake was a 10-cubic foot refrigerator. When her number was drawn, she was ecstatic, got up, and started walking toward the stage with her head held high. It took her a while to get there because the Mara Clara table was at the far end of the room. As she approached the stage, she heard John say, over the microphone, "Sino itong Judy Ann Santos? Ano'ng show nito?" Judy Ann recalls: "Siyempre, nung una, taas-noo ako, pero pag-akyat ko ng stage, bumababa na yung noo ko. Nahihiya na ako kasi parang hindi nila ako kilala, parang hindi nag-e-exist ang show ko. Awang-awa lang ako sa sarili ko." When she got back to her table, her fellow cast members hugged her tightly. "Parang na-hurt sila para sa akin."

At some point, Judy Ann felt this was a dead end road for her. She couldn't see how she could break through the phalanx of the network-supported stars and get accepted into the mainstream. She was proud that she was earning enough to send herself to school but didn't see a future beyond that. "Sabi ko pagnaka-ipon na, pupunta na lang ako sa Canada, kasama ng mommy ko."

But fate had other plans. Mara Clara, the movie, became a surprise hit. Suddenly, overnight it seemed, she became a box office force to reckon with. "Naalala ko, nag-mall tour kami ni Gladys para sa promo ng Mara Clara. Hindi kami makapaniwala. Standing room sa mga sinehan. Pinipilahan kami!" When she came home that night, she could not hold back her tears. She had turned into what she dreamed of becoming since her childhood: a modern-day version of Julie Vega.

ABS-CBN executives took notice; they did not realize they had a gem in their afternoon soap operas. Mara Clara was followed by one teleserye after the other, all of which built her name as an actress to reckon with. For a time, Judy Ann was tagged as the Soap Opera Princess. Her other notable soap series -- then and now -- include Esperanza, Judy Ann Drama Special, Basta't Kasama Kita, Sa Puso Ko Iingatan Ka, Krystala, Sa Piling Mo, Ysabella, the nurserye Habang May Buhay and George and Cecil.

Since then, while many of her contemporaries faded into showbiz oblivion, Judy Ann has done more than 60 movies, an unbroken string of box office hits.

Taken from Starstudio magazine: Judy Ann Santos special issue